When you were growing up, you were surely no stranger to the phrase “clean your room!” Everyone’s mother always seems to concerned about keeping the house clean, even though the kids and teenagers were sure that there were much better uses for their time than picking up after themselves.
Here’s the thing though: no one likes cleaning. Not even your mom, who wanted you to help her clean the house clean the whole time you were growing up. Cleaning is something that we have to do to keep the house looking nice, and when you have an aging relative living in your home, it is something that you do to keep them safe as well.
A messy house is a dangerous house for a senior who has mobility, vision, or balance problems. Leaving things in the pathways like shoes and toys and papers can cause them to trip and fall, and letting dust pile up on the surfaces can give them allergy and respiratory problems.
Here are a few tips to help you keep your house clean, not just for your aging loved one, but for you and the rest of your family too.
- Separate the junk from the keepers – Every house on this planet has its share of junk. Junk is something that you just move around from place to place, or just sits in a closet with no real purpose. If you know that there are some things that you haven’t used for years, and most likely never will again (like old magazines or empty shipping boxes from Amazon), throw them away. If you can’t bear to part with everything, at least pare down the junk and contain it in one box that you can store somewhere out of the way.
- Clean surfaces often – As mentioned before, dusty surfaces like shelves and coffee tables can be a hotbed for allergens. However, countertops and kitchen tables can be even more dangerous if not cleaned often, because they could harbor germs from the raw food you prepare there before you cook it. While you can get by with dusting just once or twice a week, you should make sure to disinfect countertops every time you use them.
- Organize the clutter – Clutter doesn’t just have to be junk. Maybe it is your daughter’s shoes, or your husband’s tennis racket sitting by the backdoor. These things shouldn’t be in the walkway, because they can cause someone to trip. Consider investing in a small shelf or cubby to put shoes and odds and ends on, not just by the backdoor, but in every room where there is more clutter than necessary.
If all this cleaning has you feeling overwhelmed, you can ask your elder care aide to help you to keep the house clean as well. He or she would be more than happy to help keep the walkways clear, and to make sure that the house is as safe as it could be for your loved one. You can also enlist your family to help – they did help make the mess in the first place, after all!
If you or an aging loved one are considering elder care in Cinco Ranch, TX, please call the caring staff at At Your Side Home Care. We will answer all of your senior care questions. Call today: (832) 271-1600.
Our Certified Nurse Aides, 24-Hour Live-in Assistants and Home Health Aides are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We also provide the security and confidence of 24-hour Telephone Assistance, so fast, reliable help is always available when it's needed. To learn more about our homecare services see our homecare services page.
Different people need different levels of homecare. To meet the requirements of our clients, At Your Side Homecare maintains consistent staffing levels of caring professionals. Homecare service is available for as little as a few hours a week, or as many as 24 hours a day, seven days a week
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